ASK THE PROS: David Williams Makes the Call on Questions Raised
Bodog poker pro, David Williams, answers questions from you, the reader, and offers up plenty of tournament poker advice
May 18, 2007
Compiled by Bodog Nation Contributing Writers
David Williams is a damned good poker player. Despite his youth, the 26-year-old has earned over $5.5 million in tournament poker winnings. He’s a gear-changing, tell-reading, WSOP bracelet-wearing, bad-ass motherfucker.
With the WSOP fast approaching, Bodog Nation readers having been looking for solid poker advice to improve their game. Williams tackles your questions in this edition of Ask the Pros.
What type of approach do you take to big stack poker tournaments do you play a lot of hands? If so what type of hands do you like to play and do you like to try and outplay your opponents on the turn and the river?
-Paul
Paul,
In big stack tournaments I try to see many flops cheap early on (when the blinds are still very low in relation to the stack size). I don't try and outplay my opponents as most of them are very weak and I just wait for them to make a mistake.
Dear David, I am a big fan of yours along with plenty other super-star pros (too many to list). I have been playing for almost a year now and playing my best poker yet. I have 2 questions. Let's say someone bought into 20 tournaments, how many cash finishes out of that number would you consider doing well? Also, what is the usual ratio for you?
-Terry Evans
Terry,
The number of cashes is not what I aim for. My style, and the style of many other top tournament poker pros, is "go big or go home". I take a lot more chances and try and win the tournament instead of hang around and try and cash. I don't have very many cashes, but when I do cash, it's big. So my ratio is low, but my payouts are high.
I was just wondering being one of the world's best poker players when you go places like to the store, mall or even out of state are you known? Basically did poker bring you fame?
-Codarius
Codarius,
I get a medium level of recognition. Most of the time I notice someone giving me a weird look, usually meaning they recognize me but they aren't sure where from. Living in Vegas does increase the amount of recognition, because there are lots of gamblers in this city.
David,
How do you think your "Magic" (card game) background helped you in your early poker career?
-Andrew Just
Andrew,
My Magic career helped me learn to think at high levels for long periods of time. Poker tournaments require lots of mental stamina and fortunately I have had many years of training.
I was playing in a 2007 WSOP satellite and raised 4 times the big blind pre-flop with Pocket K's, Everyone folds accept the large blind on my right, He goes all in. I called even though I had a strong feeling he had pocket Ace\'s. Did I do the wrong thing? I mean can anyone fold pocket K's when playing against only one other player? Would it be smart to fold Pocket K's on a feeling? He did have the Bullets, and there still killing me, this was two weeks ago.
- 1BigFatLoser
1BFL,
It's pretty hard to fold KK preflop, almost never correct to do so. The stacks have to be incredibly deep for this to be the case, which I'm going to guess they weren't. So, no, you didn't do anything wrong.
I find I'm getting bullied out of hands that I should be winning a fair amount, but when I try to switch gears and be more aggressive, I just end up betting into people almost every time. And when I don't, I seem to come away with little more than the blinds. I think I just need to be patient and aggressive when I get cards, but the last couple of days I'm just getting hit with bad beat one after the other. Any words of wisdom relating to how to prevent getting bullied but still not over-bet?
-Lance
Lance,
It sounds like your timing is just off. Just be patient and play your solid hands strong.
Here's the situation its the finals of a bar league; winner gets a trip to Las Vegas. The chip stacks are as follows player 1: 105K, plyr 2: 60K, plyr 3 55k. Blinds are at 4K, and 8k (no ante), Plyr 1 is the BB, plyr 2 is SB, and plyr 3 is the button. Plyr 3 calls the BB for 8k, plyr 2 calls from the SB for and additional 4k, plyr 1 exercises his option and raises an additional 25K, plyr 3 folds, plyr 2 reraises all-in for 52k. Therefore, plyr 1 has to call an additional 27k for a pot of 101k. He ends up calling the players flip over there cards and plyr 1 shows 10, 3 off suit and plyr 2 shows jack, eight off suit. Plyr 1 catches a 10 and ends up winning the pot. The question: is this a bad call from plyr 1 with 10, 3. My opinion is that he has priced himself in to call and is also getting the right price to call with any two cards at this point. However some other players at the finals seem to think this was a bad call because of the relative lack of strength of the 10, 3. Please let me know your opinion of this call, was this the right thing to do considering the pot odds and situation. Thank you.
P.S. I bet one of the people I was discussing this with a $100 that a pro would say it was the right call. So if there is anyway you can respond I would greatly appreciate it.
-Drew Rundle
Drew,
There were many mistakes made by all 3 players. Player 3 should have not limped on the button. With 55k and the blind at 8k, he should fold, or better yet just push all in. As you can see by the hands, he would have picked up 12k. Limping then folding in this situation is bad and wrong. Player 2 should have also pushed in from the jump. Limping then moving in when a guy is already committed with a hand like J8 is not good. Just move in and put the other guys to a decision. Player 1 attempted a good move, but he should have just moved it all in, so he doesn't get him self in the situation he ended up in. Having to call with T3. To answer your question, at this point, he HAS to call the all in from player 2, but he should have just pushed all in and won the 16k from the other two players and kept the pressure on. But to answer your bet, once he made the first mistake, the call was something he had to do.
More from Ask the Pros:
- How to Become a Poker Pro: Josh Arieh
- Poker and the Daily Grind: David Williams
PHOTO: David Williams smiling after winning his first WSOP bracelet. (IMPDI 2006, for the WSOP)
